


Should Have Married You After All

by afteriwake



Series: A Thousand Different Lives [12]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Crime, Appreciative Molly, Bad Decisions, Best Friends, Caring Sherlock, Cohabitation, Eventual Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Male-Female Friendship, Molly Hooper Loves Sherlock Holmes, Molly is a Wedding Planner, Past Molly Hooper/Tom - Freeform, Relationship History, Sherlock Holmes & Molly Hooper Friendship, Sherlock Holmes Loves Molly Hooper, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Fluff, Sherlock Holmes/Molly Hooper Kissing, Sherlock is a Good Parent, Sherlock is a teacher, Single Parent Molly, Tom Is An Asshole, near misses, wedding disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-07
Updated: 2017-04-07
Packaged: 2018-10-16 04:17:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10563528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Molly had never expected to be a single parent, but with the help of her friend, she’s coping well. But she’s wondering if her ex-fiancee was right and, perhaps, she had chosen the wrong man to marry in the first place...





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on a Tumblr post from **dumhaz** that had AUs including one that went " _you've been sleeping at mine because your house is being renovated and we aren't even dating, yet every time you wake up to the baby and sigh, 'i'll go' i feel like we might as well be married_." **iloveforensics** wanted Sherlolly parentlock fics for Christmas so this is a _much_ belated Christmas gift. Hope you enjoy!

She could really get used to this, quite honestly.

She hadn’t expected to be in the situation she was in: left at the altar by her unbeknownst to her jealous fiancee Tom, who caused a scene at the wedding saying she should just marry her best friend if she wasn’t going to be truthful with him. All because the women at her hen night (none of whom she was _actually_ friends with, save Mary) had decided to get drunk off their arses and go to a strip club for women and she just _wasn’t interested_ and she went to Sherlock Holmes’s flat instead and stayed up watching crap telly and eating ice cream until she puked and she hadn’t told her fiancee.

Well, of _course_ she’d countered that _his_ mates had said he was so excited for a stripper on his stag night and he let the woman kiss him! It had nearly been a knock down drag out fight between Tom and Sherlock until Tom stormed off, taking most of the wedding party with him and telling her to stay the hell away from the reception _he_ paid for.

When she broke down and cried until she vomited, she should have known it was something more than just too much ice cream or turbulent emotions.

She was pregnant.

Tom, of course, denied the baby was his everywhere and every way he could. She hadn’t even told him but he’d found out and made sure no one thought it was his. Even though she knew it was if that was the way he wanted it, fine. She didn’t care. She’d do this on her own with the support of friends. She had a good job as a wedding planner and thankfully because Tom had refused to let her use favours for their wedding she had some in store for when she could get back to work. And she had a decent amount of savings and a lovely flat that she owned outright. At least she had been smart enough never to let Tom move in or convince her to sell it and move somewhere else.

But it was hard, being a single mum. She had thought she’d prepared for everything, but the lonely nights when her daughter would wake up and there would be no one to turn to to help, that was hard. And knowing that her daughter was never going to really know her father because her father was convinced she was someone else’s child...that hurt her heart so much.

But Sherlock was there. And, for the moment, in quite the literal sense.

A leaky pipe had flooded his apartment and done quite a bit of damage, and it was taking time for it to be repaired. After everything he had done for her, she had offered him the use of her guest bedroom for as long as he needed it.

Though the longer he stayed, the more she started to wish the rooming situation was different.

She was, more or less, on maternity leave. Even being self-employed, she was entitled to it. And her assistants Sally and Meena were doing a wonderful job handling the wedding that they booked. Sherlock worked as a teacher at one of the primary schools, and he always made sure something was taken out for supper that evening, that coffee was made by the time she woke up, that anything that she needed to go over for her assistants was right where she could find it. He made supper and didn’t quite shoo her away, inviting her and her daughter into the kitchen for the company and the occasional bit of help, he did all the dishes, and, most importantly of all, he always got up when he daughter cried at night. She hadn’t gotten this much sleep in _ages_.

He was a godsend.

And she wanted to invite him to her bed one evening when he was done putting Essie to bed.

Tom had probably been right all along, she’d slowly realized. She _did_ love Sherlock, so much more than as just a friend. He was everything she had thought Tom was, despite his sometimes sour attitude and his occasional bouts of classism. He was a lovely, lovely man who she was madly in love with...and yet she was afraid to tell him, for fear of ruining everything they had. She couldn’t bear to lose the second most important person in her life, after her daughter.

And so tonight she was sitting in her bed, tossing and turning, not sure what to do.

She heard Essie cry and already being awake, moved to the nursery. Sherlock was coming down the hall. “You should go back to sleep,” he said.

“I can’t,” she said, giving him a wan smile. “Too many thoughts in my head.”

“Mine too,” he said. He nodded towards the nursery. “Shall we deal with Her Majesty together?”

Her smile brightened. “Let’s.” They opened the door and went inside, and Molly picked her daughter up and tried to soothe her. She got her mostly calm, but Essie was still a little fussy. After a moment she looked at Sherlock and he took Essie, beginning to sing softly until the cried became a whimper and then silenced altogether. He held her for a few more minutes, just gazing down at her in wonder, and then Molly knew. She had to ask. “Could you be happy here with me?” she asked. “With me and Essie?”

He looked up, surprised. “Are you asking me to stay?”

Molly nodded. “I think, perhaps, Tom was right all along. Maybe I should have just married you. I should have married you that day when there was a priest and witnesses and--”

Sherlock had moved closer and leaned in, softly kissing her. She shut her eyes and kissed him back, careful not to crush Essie. When he pulled away, he grinned. “Let’s start with a proper date first, okay?” he asked.

She nodded. “Okay.”


End file.
